Take part in a research study about vulnerability and mental health

Your voice could help shape the future. The ARC research team are looking for 1,000 autistic adults and 1,000 parents of children with autism to complete an online survey to learn more about the experiences of individuals with autism and about the effects on mental health.

Mental health and autism, is there a link?

The start of 2017 saw us join forces with Autistica to fund a research programme, led by Dr Sarah Griffiths at the ARC, to understand whether children and adults with autism are vulnerable to mental health problems, and how negative life experiences contribute to this.

As part of this study, we launched the anonymous online survey – one for adults with autism, one for parents of children with autism – to learn more about the experiences of individuals with autism; from their encounters of bullying, abuse, contact with the criminal justice system as well as exploring any challenges faced in relationships or with finances.

Mental health research has been shown as the number one priority within the autism community. We hope to have the findings of this research by Autumn this year, so if you can please take part and help shape this research.

More than just a survey…

The outcome of this survey has the potential to help us identify risk factors for mental health challenges, and find new ways of improving the life experiences and mental health of individuals with autism.

The results will also inform future policy and practice, improve safe-guarding, and influence the development more tailored support within schools, social services and the health service.

For more information

The research team is expecting to publish the results in early 2018. In the meantime, if you have questions on the survey, you can contact the research team at autism-vulnerability@medschl.cam.ac.uk